USA Rice Daily

Senator John Boozman (R-AR) led a bipartisan group of senators in sending a letter to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross requesting that the Administration review how any changes to NAFTA would affect the agriculture industry.

The overwhelming number of visitors to the USA Rice booth at the Food and Hotel China (FHC) show here this week, and their interest in U.S. rice, is a good indication of how ready the Chinese market is for U.S.-grown rice.

Six months after the first U.S. rice purchase by Iraq under the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the two countries, Iraq has awarded a new 90,000 metric ton order for long grain milled rice to Archer Daniels Midland (ADM).

Over the past month, USA Rice hosted outreach meetings across Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Missouri to spread the word about the new Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP), Mid-South Graduated Water Stewardship, that will bring financial assistance to rice producers implementing working lands conservation programs throughout the four states.

Field to Market: The Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture last night announced the recipients of its inaugural 2017 Sustainability Leadership Awards and Arkansas rice farmer Jennifer James was named 2017 Farmer of the Year.

Demand for U.S. medium grain rice by the foodservice industry in Japan is on the upswing as the first Simultaneous Buy-Sell (SBS) tender in 2017 was fully subscribed with U.S. rice gaining a 77 percent share of the 25,000 MT purchased. And on Friday, November 10, Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) announced a second tender for 25,000 MT of rice to be held on November 29.

Earlier this month, USA Rice participated in the annual International Fair of Havana (FIVAH) to showcase U.S. rice and meet with Alimport, the importer of U.S. food products into Cuba. Several media outlets interviewed the USA Rice team about our participation and work in Cuba over the past few years.

Total 2017/18 U.S. rice supplies are increased marginally this month to 248.9 million cwt as higher projected imports (primarily Thai fragrant rice) offset slightly lower production. In the November Crop Production report, NASS reduced the 2017/18 U.S. crop size by 200,000 cwt to 178.4 million on lower forecast yield. This is 20 percent less than last year and would be the lowest U.S. rice production since 1996/97.